Monday, September 22, 2014

Fed’s Move to End Stimulus Aids Market Stability

The Federal Reserve Bank’s recent announcement that it is
on the verge of ending its unprecedented and controversial monetary
stimulus program seemed to reassure investors and let the Dow Jones
Industrial Average eke out mild gains each day during the past week.

Credit
the technique of “signaling” that involves the implementing of a policy
with predictability that former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke began and his
successor Janet Yellen continued when she took the post early this
year. Such steadiness in scaling back on the stimulus by $10 billion at
each Fed meeting removed the kind of uncertainty that investors hate and
staved off a potential market sell-off last week.

The Fed’s
Sept. 17 announcement that it may end its purchase of government
agency-issued assets at its next meeting also will let the U.S. central
bank curb the immense growth of its balance sheet.

Indeed, the Fed has
added nearly $4 trillion in liabilities
since 2008 through its monetary stimulus program and has caused House
Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, to hold hearings aimed at changing how the nation’s central bank operates.

For
investors, the market exhibited relative calm last week with the Dow
gaining .59% on Tuesday, Sept. 16, .15% on Wednesday, Sept. 17, .64% on
Thursday, Sept. 18, and .08% on Friday, Sept. 19, when it closed at
17,279.72. Speculation that the Fed’s stimulus policy would lead to a
dependency of the markets on the practice has proven to be unwarranted
thus far.

The Fed specifically announced on Sept. 17 that it
would cut its purchase of agency-backed securities in October by $5
billion from $10 billion, as well as add to its holdings of longer-term
Treasury securities at a pace of $10 billion per month rather than $15
billion per month. Despite the pulling back, the Fed issued a statement
that indicated its sizable and still-increasing holdings of longer-term
securities should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest
rates, support mortgage markets and help to make broader financial
conditions more accommodative in spurring an economic recovery.

If
future economic data supports the Federal Open Market Committee’s
(FOMC) expectation of ongoing improvement in labor market conditions and
inflation moving back toward its longer-run objective of 2 percent, the
central bank indicated it plans to end its current program of asset
purchases at its next meeting. However, asset purchases are not on a
“preset course” and any decision about their pace will remain contingent
on the outlook for the labor market and inflation, as well as the Fed’s
assessment of the likely efficacy and costs of such central bank
intervention, the FOMC announced.

The FOMC reaffirmed its view
that a “highly accommodative stance” of monetary policy remains
appropriate, along with its goal of maintaining the current 0 to 1/4
percent target range for the federal funds rate, which is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances to each other overnight.

Of
course, the nearly $4 trillion in liabilities that the Fed has amassed
since 2008 remains to be addressed but at least the massive total soon
may stop growing.

Republicans Shouldn’t Pander to Hispanic Voters

Our national debate on immigration policy centers on a paradox. We must become aware of it and deal with it.

The
United States needs an immigration policy because a lot of people want
to come here. If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t need an immigration
policy.

Why do they want to come? For freedom. And because there is freedom, there is opportunity.

The
immigration issue is now a political football because of the political
baggage it carries. Both parties want the votes of the Hispanic
population, the most rapidly growing demographic in the country. And
this is the same population most sensitive to the immigration issue
because most of the illegals within our borders are from Latin American
countries.

And here lies the paradox. The purported
strategies for “winning” Hispanic votes are not about engaging this
population on preserving American freedom and opportunity, which is what
makes the United States so attractive to those who want to come. The
strategies are about how to pander to this population to win its votes.

Realclearpolitics.com has just run a five day series of articles on the theme “Hispanic Voters: Trends and Opportunities.”

One
of the articles, under the headline “To Reach Latinos, GOP Must Alter
Its Message, Tone,” offers Republicans free advice on what they must do
to get the votes of the increasingly powerful Hispanic demographic.

If
Republicans are going to continue to “howl at the moon about the evils
of “big government”,” this column advises, they can kiss these Latino
folks goodbye.

“In poll after poll, majorities of
Latinos embrace the view that government has a positive role in creating
more opportunities for citizens who were not born to privilege.”

America
was built by hundreds of millions of immigrants coming here to be free.
Yet we are now told that this latest group of immigrants, Hispanics,
must be offered more government, less freedom.

True, Barack Obama succeeded with Hispanic voters where John McCain and Mitt Romney did not.

But
it is also true that over the last 6 years government and national debt
has exploded and our economic growth is now larded and stunted.

Secretary
of State John Kerry was present for this annihilationist abject Jew
hatred. Not only is Iran tying the battle against the Islamic State to
the destruction of Israel, but they are tying their ‘cooperation’ to the US relaxing it stance on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Of course Iran wants the filthy kufar to defeat the Islamic State.
The Islamic State is Sunni, Iran Shia. The Islamic State destroyed the
Iran backed shia government in Iraq.

They slaughter shia with impunity.
Iran needs to destroy the Islamic State. Instead of using this as
leverage, the dithering Obama sides with our enemies. Again.

Under the vicious Obama regime, chaos and evil are tearing up the world.

Or
the Zionists, of course: “It is obvious to everyone that the Islamic
State is a creation of the United States and Israel.”

Conspiracy
paranoia update: “Suspicions Run Deep in Iraq That C.I.A. and the
Islamic State Are United,” by David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times, September 20, 2014:

BAGHDAD — The United States has conducted an escalating
campaign of deadly airstrikes against the extremists of the Islamic
State for more than a month. But that appears to have done little to
tamp down the conspiracy theories still circulating from the streets of
Baghdad to the highest levels of Iraqi government that the C.I.A. is
secretly behind the same extremists that it is now attacking.

“We know about who made Daesh,” said Bahaa al-Araji, a deputy prime
minister, using an Arabic shorthand for the Islamic State on Saturday at
a demonstration called by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr to warn
against the possible deployment of American ground troops. Mr. Sadr
publicly blamed the C.I.A. for creating the Islamic State in a speech
last week, and interviews suggested that most of the few thousand people
at the demonstration, including dozens of members of Parliament,
subscribed to the same theory. (Mr. Sadr is considered close to Iran,
and the theory is popular there as well.)

When an American journalist asked Mr. Araji to clarify if he blamed
the C.I.A. for the Islamic State, he retreated: “I don’t know. I am one
of the poor people,” he said, speaking fluent English and quickly
stepping back toward the open door of a chauffeur-driven SUV. “But we
fear very much. Thank you!”

The prevalence of the theory in the streets underscored the deep
suspicions of the American military’s return to Iraq more than a decade
after its invasion, in 2003. The casual endorsement by a senior
official, though, was also a pointed reminder that the new Iraqi
government may be an awkward partner for the American-led campaign to
drive out the extremists.

The Islamic State, also known by the acronym ISIS, has conquered many
of the predominantly Sunni Muslim provinces in Iraq’s northeast, aided
by the alienation of many residents to the Shiite-dominated government
of the former prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. President Obama has
insisted repeatedly that American military action against the Islamic
State depended on the installation of a more inclusive government in
Baghdad, but he moved ahead before it was complete….

The leader of the Islamic State, for his part, declared on Saturday that he defied the world to stop him.

The Islamic State (ISIS) may be
grabbing the headlines at the moment as the United States plans to hit
targets in Syria with airstrikes while building a coalition of ground
support, but there are other groups who the United States also should be
focusing on, according to a report in The New York Times.

Of
particular concern is a group called Khorasan, also based in Syria. It
is led by Muhsin al-Fadhli and may be more interested in bombing the
U.S. homeland than is ISIS.

Al-Qaida members from the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa are
believed to make up the group, but little else is known of who they are.
It is thought that they are planning terror attacks using concealed
explosives.

The Times describes Fadhli as a senior al-Qaida operative who was close
enough to Osama bin Laden that he was one of the few people who knew of
the 9/11 attacks before they happened.

He is believed to have arrived in Syria from Iran, where he was one of
several al-Qaida members who fled Afghanistan following the 9/11
attacks. He was identified as al-Qaida's leader in Iran in 2012 by the
U.S. State Department.

National intelligence director James R. Clapper told the Times that "in
terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger
as the Islamic State."

The chairs of the House and Senate Intellegence committees addressed the Times story Sunday on "Face the Nation."

Michigan Republican Rep. Mike Rogers said he disagrees that the ISIS threat is less than that of Khorasan.

"It's different," he said, saying that the Khorasan group is a more
immediate threat to the homeland as ISIS continues to consolidate the
area it has taken over is Iraq and Syria.

Rogers has discussed the group before, preferring to call them "forward
deployed al-Qaida operatives" who are working with al-Qaida in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to devise terror plots to bring down airplanes.

She described some of ISIS' atrocities including a photo she has seen of
a young girl about 6 years old wearing a gingham party dress and mary
jane shoes who had been beheaded by ISIS.

"This could be an American child. It could be a Eurpoean child. It could be a child anywhere," Feinstein said.

Also of concern in Syria is al-Nusra. Jennifer Cafarella, who works as a
Syria analyst for the Institute for the Study of War in Washington,
told the Times that American airstrikes could benefit the group if ISIS
is knocked out and no one else fills the void.

"There is definitely a threat that, if not conducted as a component of a
properly tailored strategy within Syria, the American strikes would
allow the Nusra Front to fill a vacuum in eastern Syria," she said.

Op-ed:By the Thousands They Flee By: Diane Sori"I'm glad to get rid of these five people."
Harry Reid's response to the release of the GITMO 5 for one Bowe
Bergdahl

Sadly and against intelligence orders, back in
2009, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was released by Obama from Camp
Bucca in Iraq. And now
reported to be in Iraq is Mullah Mohammed Fazi...one of the GITMO 5
Obama 'exchanged' for the American traitor Bowe Bergdahl...and done so
without Congressional approval I might add...and it's rumored the two
are now working together to establish the islamic caliphate and to kill
all who get in their way.

And so it becomes even more obvious that Barack HUSSEIN Obama's true
motives in having these most dangerous of men released has assuredly crossed the
line into knowingly and willingly 'aiding and abetting' the enemy...in
other words TREASON...for he knew this would be the outcome when he
released those that he did...released them to lead and serve ISIS...the
very group he was briefed about well over a year ago that he
deliberately chose to ignore.

And what of ISIS itself
and its goal of establishing an islamic
caliphate...expanding it westward and eastward from the areas it already
controls in both Syria and Iraq...for the fact is that ISIS does indeed
represent a direct
threat NOT only to U.S. allies in the region, but given the number of
foreign fighters within its ranks... unfortunately including
Americans...ISIS now poses a
threat to Europe and America as well for as those fighters return home
they do so to join sleeper cells waiting for their call to jihad. And
let's NOT forget the ISIS videos where they have promised to divide
America in two...where they have threatened car bombs and explosives in
our cities...and where they brag about a future where the flag of allah
will be raised over the White House...to which I add maybe with Obama's
help.

And so ISIS continues on its forward march as they
overrun Syria's
north, forcing some 66,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees to flee into Turkey
within the past 24 hours alone, making it upwards of 100,000 people who
have
crossed into Turkey in just the last few days, according to the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey. And with the number of Syrian
refugees now in Turkey nearing 1.6 million and growing...that 1.6
million now becomes part of the 3 million registered Syrian refugees the
U.N. has counted since Syria's three-year civil war began.

So many people fleeing their homeland as it becomes obvious that
while Bashir al-Assad might NOT be the Syrian people's best friend per
se, ISIS and the 'supposed' rebels are indeed their worst nightmare.
Remember, the rebel fighters are often religious and see NO problem at
all with building up alliances with the jihadists against a common
enemy...that being Bashir al-Assad. And with ISIS, the Free Syrian
Army, and the other rebel groups all trying to oust al-Assad...the once
mostly secular Syria could very well become part of the ISIS wanted
islamic caliphate complete with the abomination known as sharia law.

And the Syrian people know this, as well they know what our clueless
Congress has chosen to ignore...that these rebel groups...that the Free
Syrian Army...are actually ISIS and al-Qaeda in disguise. And when you
add in what Obama has knowingly done by releasing the worst of the worst
it's NO wonder that the Syrian people are running for their lives.

So
while these desperate people seek refuge in
Turkey, and as our government gets ready to fund those who are actually
the enemy, Kurdish fighters from Turkey are joining the Kurdish
militia...known as the People's Protection Unit...in fighting to hold
off
advancing ISIS forces in Syria's northern region, according to the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. And basically these fighters are
being
forced to go it alone without America's help thanks to Barack HUSSEIN
Obama and this most shameful American Congress who want to arm the very
ones that are forcing the people to flee.

And as
village after village fall in Syria, Iraq, and Kurdistan to these ISIS
barbarians...with 39 villages falling in Kurdistan just
this past Friday alone in what amounts to ethnic cleansing...Kurdish
fighters were forced to withdraw from their positions. And what does
Obama
do to help aid those who are our allies...he smugly continues on with
his
'limited airstrikes'...maybe six to nine per day...just to show the
world he's doing something while his something amounts to what is
actually NOTHING at all.

And this is all so sad for the Kurdish Syrian fighters had been able
to fight and hold off ISIS for the past two years, and even were able to secure some roads as a safe
passage for the thousands of Yazidi fleeing for their lives. But now thanks
to ISIS in possession of American made weapons and arms...weapons they took from Iraqi
soldiers who high-tailed it and ran when the going got tough...ISIS is
now advancing across northern Syria killing Iraqi's, Kurds, and Syrians
with those very U.S. made weapons and arms.

And Obama and Congress...through the Free Syrian Army...want to supply them with even more.

But amidst all this bad news there is a bit of good news. First, the
Kurdish peshmerga forces in northern Iraq have recaptured several
Christian villages under ISIS control even killing a senior ISIS
commander in the process. Second, the Kurdish peshmerga are more than
willing to fight ISIS, they just need to get the training and the heavy
weapons they need to do so.

But even that bit of good news is tempered with bad news as who will the
peshmerga get those heavy weapons from as Obama and now Congress are
arming their enemies instead of arming them. And while there are Shia
militias also fighting against ISIS those militias are backed by
Iran...trained by Iranians and/or Lebanese fighters from Hezbollah...a
double-edged sword if ever there was one for how can Iran side with the
'good guys' when Iran itself is one of the 'bad guys'...probably the
baddest guy of all.

So as ISIS...now more of a quasi-state than just a mere terrorist
group...continues on its quest of establishing an islamic
caliphate...it has plenty of weapons and arms and more than enough
financial resources to do so. And Barack HUSSEIN Obama and now Congress are
aiding them in that quest...aiding them by their own acts of treason...and it
seems that sadly, right now, there is NOTHING or NO one that can stop them...and that is the saddest thing of all.

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I am an American Patriot...part of the grassroots movement of bloggers spreading the truth the media will not. I am also co-host with Craig Andresen of RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on RSP Radio at: https://streamingv2.shoutcast.com/right-side-patriots